Introducing myself to classes today by explaining that I used to be an associate professor of Sociology & African American Studies, but that the university shut down the latter department.
BREAKING: After the Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, I fought back. And I'm happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post. They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/b...
Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Columnist Karen Attiah
An arbitrator ordered the newspaper to reinstate Karen Attiah, who was fired after posting about “white men who espouse hatred and violence” following Charlie Kirk’s killing.
nytimes.com
New university/ AEI collab just dropped! “Promoting intellectual pluralism” by “identifying & assisting prospective grad students who are dedicated to pluralistic inquiry, & esp. those interested in questions, hypotheses or approaches that may be labeled conservative, moderate or heterodox liberal.”
Seth Rockman@sethrockman.bsky.social · 7d agoHere is Johns Hopkins University's new Affirmative Action program... Yes, what a timely intervention to remedy the great inequalities of the modern world, a brave initiative to address the most urgent problems of our time [sarcasm].
We Tried to Cover a Tom Kean Campaign Event. Someone Called the Police. Yes, I’m the “nice, little reporter.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/n...
We Tried to Cover a Tom Kean Campaign Event. Someone Called the Police. (Gift Article)
Representative Thomas Kean Jr. was joined Friday on the campaign trail by House Speaker Mike Johnson. An aide to Mr. Kean blocked a reporter’s entry. Then the police were called.
nytimes.com
"New Jersey’s new budget allots $5 million for “events attraction and marketing” at Rutgers’ flagship campus. A university spokesperson declined to say if the money would be used for athletic programs."
States pour taxpayer dollars into college sports as athlete pay, soaring costs squeeze budgets
A growing number of states are providing tax dollars to university athletics. The move comes as major college sports programs now are paying millions of dollars to athletes.
apnews.com
Sounds ridic. But college coaches are control freaks. They want every single thing rehearsed. So Iowa State did a practice run at the hotel they stay at for game days. Practice dinner. Practice sleep. Practice breakfast. And yes practice snacks. It cost $116,000 www.foiaball.com/p/training-c...
Is your team practicing how to stay in a hotel?
It costs one team $116,000 to do a dry run.
foiaball.com
The culprit? Like last year, NSF is spending more up front, discontinuing multi-year awards and paying off the mortgage on existing awards. But FY26 and FY25 have similar budgets. What accounts for the difference is that NSF has withheld $1 billion—$1,016,862,632, to be precise.
Scoop: For nearly a year, NSF has struggled to make new grants. Now we know that it will not catch up. In fact, NSF will award just 6,100 new grants—a 30% y/o/y decline, itself down from a previous avg. of 11,000+. In fact, the last time NSF awarded so few grants was in the early '80s.
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
nature.com
"Academic workers did not create this crisis. But we intend to build something better: a system of higher education worthy of this country." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Who Really Politicized Higher Education? (opinion)
It wasn’t the AAUP.
insidehighered.com
“We’re not talking about a random person spreading opinion as fact. We’re talking about a scholar giving his professional view.” — Stockton Federation of Teachers President Tara Luke www.nj.com/education/20... @aft.org @aaup.org
A N.J. professor says a wealthy donor got his words about Israel erased from a school website
Stockton says donors have no decision-making authority, but the timing of the removal has alarmed faculty, students and alumni.
nj.com
We just launched our Shop Smart, Not Target campaign to urge our members and their families to spend our money reflects what we stand for. This back-to-school season, let’s put our dollars behind local businesses that support workers, families and their communities. www.aft.org/press-releas...
And people want to tell me the media doesn't play a role in education policy!
"Investigators, including Ms. Van Erem, were told in April 2025 of a plan to “systematically interview Middle East studies professors, particularly Muslim faculty” to see if they would say anything that could be labeled antisemitic, the document states." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/u...
Trump Officials Ignored Their Own University Investigations, Lawyer Says
A former Justice Department lawyer says Trump administration leaders ignored findings that elite schools, including Brown and Columbia, hadn’t broken the law as they pressed them into deals.
nytimes.com
We stand with our Hofstra AAUP union siblings. We signed their letter urging President Susan Poser and Hofstra to bargain in good faith. Faculty make Hofstra work. Read & share: https://loom.ly/l1oLP-A #HofstraAAUP
Not only is the Trump admin forcing immigrants to lose their livelihoods, upending key industries in the process, it’s also costing taxpayers as we struggle to make ends meet. 12 million additional people could receive Medicaid with the money being spent on deportations!
Trump deportations cost taxpayers $2,358 each
The projected $268.9 billion could otherwise fund major safety-net programs.
seiu.co
We're excited to announce that "So Long, Dental Plan" Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV is scheduled to be published in April 2027 by SUNY Press. Pre-orders will begin around X-Mass time.
The Trump admin is back with version 2.0 of its higher ed compact. The reason is simple: The first one failed. Compact 2.0 lacks egregious elements of its predecessor. That’s a victory & affirms that the answer to authoritarianism is organized resistance—not compliance. www.aaup.org/news/new-com...
New Compact Shows Resistance Works, but Fight for Higher Ed Isn’t Over
The Trump administration is back with a second version of its higher education compact. As with its predecessor, the best path forward is for higher education workers to organize and demand that their...
aaup.org
“The county line is finally dead. A lot of people said this day would never come, but here we are...This closes a long and ugly chapter in New Jersey politics where party bosses picked election winners. Now it’s the voters who get to write the next one.” jerseyvindicator.org/2026/08/03/n...
New Jersey’s county line is finally dead altogether as Bergen County agrees to settle • Jersey Vindicator
Bergen County becomes the last county to settle and accept fair primary-ballot rules. but must pay more than $60,000 in legal fees
jerseyvindicator.org
AGB (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges) has entered the chat
Bryan Alexander@edufuturist.bsky.social · 4w agoHere's the Association of Governing Boards' statement on the McMahon letter: agb.org/news/press-r...
Me on the AAU "The AAU claims to be comprised of America’s leading research unis...But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
insidehighered.com
Exclusive: We obtained a leaked playbook that Flock gives to cops to coach them on "how to speak to city council" to avoid getting their contracts canceled. Includes strategies like "own the narrative" by talking to mayor "before public comment periods" www.404media.co/own-the-narr...
‘Own the Narrative’: Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech
"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of co...
404media.co
"The rise comes from the rapid increase in the concentration of wealth. In 2024, the total estimated wealth of families with family offices was more than $5 trillion, compared with a little over $3 trillion in 2019...." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/b...
The Ultra-Rich Are Moving to Miami, and Want Their Money Managers There, Too
Tax incentives, among other benefits, have drawn the ultrawealthy to the city. And they need space for the firms that manage their money.
nytimes.com
Ms. Rachel expresses support for Abdul El-Sayed, Cori Bush, Justin Pearson, Jarrett Keohokalole, Peggy Flanagan, Becca Balint, William Lawrence, Elijah Manley, Troy Jackson, Donavan McKinney, Oliver Larkin, and Angie Nixon. "These are some folks I believe care about all kids."
Please take a breath and read Henry Giroux. “Politics appears objectionable only when it challenges dominant relations of power. When it protects existing hierarchies, legitimates state violence, accommodates corporate influence, or normalizes organized injustice, it suddenly becomes invisible.”
Higher Ed Can’t Be Neutral in an Age of Brutality. It Must Choose Democracy.
Contemporary proponents of “institutional neutrality” fail to grasp that universities have never been outside politics.
truthout.org
"There's an extreme, radical, right-wing agenda coming out of the federal government targeting higher education. The AAUP won’t exist in an ivory tower and wait for politics to be done to its members. That’s not the AAUP of 2026." – Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
AAUP Embraces Political Role With Candidate Endorsements
The group says the move is a first in its over-100-year existence, and part of countering government threats. Critics say AAUP has lost its neutrality.
insidehighered.com
A reminder that UC _faculty_ and Faculty Associations — not the universities themselves nor their administrators — are waging this battle in court, demonstrating great bravery and moral clarity.
White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants
Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COV...
apnews.com
"Jones said he has never talked with any students. He said the college pays him $1 for every post he makes on the discussion board for students, and $4 for each final review he checks. Maestro officials told Jones he could use AI to generate replies on the discussion boards, he said."
Rebecca Givan@rkgwork.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Maestro has dedicated a Reddit page for students to talk with one another, and college officials can post updates about the school. The college uses Reddit to communicate about everything from financial aid to explaining punishments by its accreditor." www.newamerica.org/insights/the...
"Maestro has dedicated a Reddit page for students to talk with one another, and college officials can post updates about the school. The college uses Reddit to communicate about everything from financial aid to explaining punishments by its accreditor." www.newamerica.org/insights/the...
The AI College: How One For-Profit School Substituted Instructors With a Chatbot
An inside look at AI-powered Maestro University exposes a pattern of policy failures, potential legal violations, and widespread frustration among students—acting as a warning sign for higher educatio...
newamerica.org
3/ If you've ever wondered what the absolute rock-bottom of academic labor might look like at an accredited American institutions of higher education, well:
